and by the way, after last night, i want a man who had the good sense to marry michelle obama. >> reporter: clinton had two basic arguments. one, that while the republicans are intransigent, the president, like him, is all about cooperation, having named republicans and former rivals to his cabinet. >> heck. he even appointed hillary. >> reporter: point two, that the president, like him, supports economic principles that will work. while the republicans do not. the former president had several other points to make. >> the republican argument against the president's re-election was actually pretty simple. we left him a total mess. he hasn't cleaned it up fast enough. so, fire him and put us back in. >> reporter: former president clinton and the arena gave an answer to the question that obama campaign officials seemed to stumble on earlier this week. >> but are we better off than we were when he took office? >> reporter: afterwards, president obama electrified the audience by surprising them by joining president clinton on stage. offering a bro hug and a personal presidential applause for a